Explanation:
Nestled in the Austrian Alps, frozen
Lake Ossiach
stretches across the foreground of this serene view.
Recorded on March 1, the night sky includes a nearly full
Moon and bright planet Saturn seen through thin
clouds near picture center.
It also includes a remarkably bright and colorful
moondog
or paraselene at the left.
Analogous to a sundog or parhelion,
the paraselene
is produced by
moonlight shining through
thin, hexagonal-shaped ice crystals in high
cirrus clouds.
As determined by the ice crystal geometry,
the Moon is 22 degrees from the lovely paraselene.
